The present invention relates generally to bobbin winding machines and more particularly to apparatus for conveying cops mounted upstanding on carriers such as caddies or peg trays to multiple winding heads of a bobbin winding machine.
Japanese Parent Document JP-AS 49-12128 teaches an automatic bobbin winding machine wherein a plurality of winding heads are permanently arranged adjacent to each other and a conveyor belt extends along the bobbin winding machine along a guide track for transporting peg trays or like carriers to the winding heads. Cops are inserted onto the peg trays in upstanding disposition and remain on the peg trays during transportation to the winding heads, the unwinding operation thereat, and also as empty tubes during return conveyance away from the winding heads. Storage stretches for the peg trays are located in front of the winding heads. The conveyor belt extending along the bobbin winding machine has the function of delivering the peg trays to all winding heads. The delivery of the peg trays to the storage stretches of the winding heads takes place by means of controllable loading devices. The peg trays are delivered to the conveyor belt only as needed.
German Published Patent Application DE-OS 33 08 172 also teaches a bobbin winding machine which exhibits the essential features of the bobbin winding machine already described. However, no separately controllable loading devices are present but rather fixed guide plates deflect all individual carriers arriving on the cop carrier conveyor belt in the direction of magazines associated with the winding heads of the machine. These guide plates, in conjunction with the shaping of delivery stretches extending to the winding heads, permit a deflection of caddies or peg trays only in one direction of travel along the cop carrier conveyor belt. For this reason, in view of the fact that caddies or peg trays are regularly delivered to the conveyor belt, not merely when there is a particular determined requirement of the winding heads, care must be taken that peg trays or caddies arriving at the end of the conveyor belt and not received by the delivery stretches to the winding heads do not accumulate or back up, which could ultimately result in a blocking of the entire delivery of cops to the winding heads. To this end, an additional return track parallel to the cop carrier conveyor belt is provided in the apparatus disclosed in German Patent Application DE-OS 33 08 172 for returning the excess caddies or peg trays to the entrance of the carrier conveyor belt.
German Patent DE 38 43 554 A1 teaches an apparatus for delivering caddies or peg trays to the winding heads of a bobbin winding machine wherein a distributing stretch is formed by a reversibly drivable conveyor belt. It is also possible with this apparatus to effect a distribution of the caddies or peg trays mounted with cops to the winding heads without additional switchable means. The reversing operation of the conveyor belt of the distributing stretch assures a distribution of the caddies or peg trays without a problematic accumulation and eliminates a return track.
In the distribution of caddies or peg trays to the winding heads in the apparatus described in German Patent Application DE-OS 33 08 172, an undersupplying of the winding heads located at one end of the distributing stretch can occur, especially if short rewinding times of the cops necessitate a frequent cop replacement. Cops arriving at the entrance end of this distributing stretch ar therefore taken up relatively rapidly by the closer winding heads, so that fewer or no caddies or peg trays arrive at the more distant winding heads. This also results from the fact that the specific track guide imposes limits on the transport speed of the caddies or peg trays on the distributing stretch.
German Patent DE 38 43 554 A1 discloses a cop delivery apparatus for a winding machine which provides relatively short distributing sections for different yarn batches, each of which sections has its own infeed position for the caddies, peg trays or other cop carriers. The problem of an undersupply in the case of short cop running times does not occur with these short distributing sections.